Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut alleged that his party’s MPs were being offered Rs 15 crore each to join the rival faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Raut had initially said that reports of a breakaway group were “a lie” and stated that all MPs had recently “expressed faith” in party chief Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership.

However, Raut later alleged on social media that attempts were being made to induce MPs to switch sides. He claimed that the MPs were being offered Rs 50 crore to join rival parties, with Rs 15 crore being the “advance” payment.

Separately, Uddhav Sena MP Arvind Sawant wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla urging him not to entertain any claims seeking recognition of a separate group or merger involving MPs elected on the party’s symbol. Read on.

The United States government announced that its military’s US Indo-Pacific Command will revert to its original name, the Pacific Command. The move restores the name under which the organisational unit operated for more than seven decades.

The Department of War said that the move was intended to honour the command’s historical identity and legacy. The decision reversed a change introduced in 2018, when the US government, during Donald Trump’s first term as the president, renamed the unit as the Indo-Pacific Command.

Washington had at the time cited the growing strategic importance of the Indian Ocean region and its increasing integration with the security situation in the Pacific Ocean. Read on.

Messaging platform Telegram challenged before the Delhi High Court the Union government’s decision to ban it in India till the undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for seats in medical colleges is held. The court agreed to hear the matter.

The counsel for the platform told the bench that more than 150 million users have been affected by the blocking order. Telegram also argued that the government had singled it out, violating Article 14 of the Constitution that guarantees the right to equality. Read on.

Three injured Kuki men were moved from the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal shortly after midnight under heavy security. This came after two days of protests against their admission to the hospital. The authorities have not disclosed where the three men were taken.

The men had been injured in a firing incident in the Kangpokpi district on Monday and were brought to the hospital for treatment by security personnel. Their presence at the hospital had sparked protests by members of the Meitei and Naga communities, who alleged that the injured men were militants.

As tensions escalated on Tuesday evening, a large crowd gathered outside the hospital, shouting slogans and attempting to enter the premises. Security personnel fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesters. Read on.

Comedian Pranit More and audience member Himanshu Jangra were booked by the Gurugram Police for allegedly objectionable content posted online from a comedy show recorded in Haryana. More and Jangra had been booked by the Maharashtra Police in the matter on June 11.

The cases were filed after a video was widely shared online in which Jangra expressed entitlement to physical intimacy in return for spending Rs 370 for a biryani on a date with a woman. He had also claimed to have pressured the woman to accompany him to a “dark” park despite her repeated reluctance.

Jangra was part of the audience in an episode of the comedy show hosted by More. Video clips of the episode had been widely shared and criticised on social media. Read on.

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